[Combi245]

All the rotary burrs have arrived and a couple of days of hand machining has opened up the ports a little and removed all the imperfections and lumps in the port walls

And so it begins...

Rough porting almost completed. I like to make the radius from the valve down into the port area as shallow as i can, especially around where the valve guide sits. I run the shorter valve guides from Av&V so you don't have to get carried away trying to open the ports up.

On the intakre side it is pretty much the same but I open it up slightly over the whole port. Again I pay attention to where the valve guide sits and I try and put a nicer radius into the port. I leave the tooling marks from the bur as the final finish.

As much as I would like to be able to weld up a couple of parts in the head so that I can get more material in the right places leading into and after the valve guide this will have to do as I can afford to send these of the JPrecision for them to do it.

 

[Combi245]

Made the hugger up out of straight carbon and vinylester resin a couple of days ago and decided to pull it out of the mould this afternoon.

Came out pretty good so will lay up anther one for the other bike that I have here.

At last I have cracked to problem that I was having making the epoxy/Eglass seats. one small patch that caused an issue but I have already made adjustments for the next one so that it comes out perfect.

Sitting on my other bike, I will make the mounts for it next week.

 

[Combi245]

And then there were two. I have a third one in the mould that I did last night and will stop there for the moment - I have the other piece yet to make up and these are a bit tricky to make as it has the mount on it for the chain guard.

I have had this sitting off to one side for a while but the frame was cracked and I made up the repair pieces for it some time ago but lost the brace material. Found that so have finished off all the parts for this and prepared it ready for welding.

Finished shaping everything correctly now just need to weld the brace into position on the tube patches before welding the attachment nuts for the tank clamp and then I will carefully weld the patches onto the frame. This one is going to stay like this as I will be fitting either a custom airbox or a set of pod filters on the carbs. Still don't know which carbs I will be using, looking very much likely that they will be Smart carbs If I can get them to work.

 

[Combi245]

Moving onto the seat supports I managed to get the front ones done using conventional vacuum bagging technique to save a bit of time. Did a second set after these as well as the rear supports and they managed to stick in the moulds and have damaged them getting the finished supports out. Error on my part but that been said not an issue as the damage is in non critical areas. will be moving onto the first of the carbon seats to be done in this batch of bits tomorrow.

Conventional bagging been used for these - this is the last set that will be done this way as I have run out of all the materials to do it. Have decided to stick to the resin infussion for everything to cut down on stock.

Came out ok but the next set that I did after this was a different story. Managed to stick in the mould and damaged it a bit in the process of getting them out. Error on my part but not an issue as it is areas that get trimmed and glassed over when they get fitted.

 

[Combi245]

Popped this out of the mould from the other day.
.

Had a little bit of leftover resin that I mixed with some finely cut carbon scraps and then back filled the mount.

A layer of carbon to cap it off and a layer of pee ply to finish it.

 

[Combi245]

While I wait for a few things to arrive it is time to go through all the parts for the bike and work out what needs to be binned, is worth reusing and what needs to be repaired or replaced - oh joy...

 

[muddy60]

Now that is an assortment...

 

[Combi245]

After going through everything most of it is in serviceable condition but but a bit scruffy. Coup[le of electrical issues to resolve but nothing major that can't be resolved. Still waiting for stuff to arrive and the rain has been constant for the past 24hrs. I have a couple of projects to sort out but I have just been given permission to be a distributor for Carillo so I have placed the initial order for a couple of sets of rods to suit the 900. I also have a couple of other companies that I have reached out to now we are getting close to production for the main fairings so I need a top screen. Company that I tried a couple of years ago to get them off said no but now they have said maybe so fingers crossed.. To add to that an old contact for the tube bends used for the 2-1 exhaust systems has come out of the wood work and said he is back in business again. While I ponder all of that I managed to crank out the first of the drawings for the replacement fork lower mounts

 

[Combi245]

Couple of other things turned up this morning, a set of APE cylinder studs for one of the bikes and the missing release agent for the composite stuff. I have another set studs coming next year - supplier is running short of another full set. So a day of polishing and getting the plugs for the side fairings ready for making the moulds but I have a smaller mould to make for the ram tubes as a trial for the new materials.

Put all the exhaust bits together - I have to go through these as well and sort out the 2-1 pipe to be fitted to this bike.

 

[Combi245]

Gear clusters have arrived. Quick check of the different weights.

The older style cluster as fitted to the early Superbikes.

Later style (1098/1198) cluster. All the gears apart from top are the same ratios as the earlier close ratio cluster

picked up the damaged crank case, not as good a repair as I was hoping but will do the job.
.

 

[Combi245]

I have now completed the initial 3D drawings for the replacement lowers to suit the 20 mm axle Showa non adjustable forks. Removed the adjuster mount from them to suit a set of Andreani replacement internals with the adjustments at the top. Two different styles, one to suit a direct replacement with the 40mm spaced original style callipers and the others to suit a 108mm radial calliper which gives plenty of aftermarket options for both 4 and 6 piston callipers going forward.

This one is a go for sure

Not 100% sure on this one yet. I will get a set of the original replacements done first then see about these ones.


Another little project that has been sitting in the wings - Carbon fibre fork tubes. Now this one has been a casualty of the pandemic and a lot of second guessing the method of manufacture. As I don’t have access to an auto clave I have to rely on vacuum processes at room temperature. Getting suitable composite material for these to be made from is difficult as what I am after is not available in New Zealand and trying to source it from overseas has also been a headache - until now.

I managed to get a small amount of one of the materials required so made a test piece up last week end using an old damaged tube to simulate as close as I can the general shape and approximate size to do a proof of concept for the process before going any further. This is not how they will be actually made, I have a different initial process for the final product item but this is as close as I can get at the moment with what I have. Mixed results but served its purpose to highlight issues that I need to deal with, what could possibly go wrong…

 

[Broombah]

lovely work.
The last generation of modular Ohlins R&T forks has a modular back plate which could be swapped out for axial or radial calipers, have you thought about something along those lines?
It would mean that you could have a standard foot on the forks and then bolt up whatever as the mood took you.
It might be an idea to make the fender mounting bracket modular as well, again just so were it to break off you could just make that component and bolt a new one up.

What are you thinking about the forks? carbon sleeve over stainless or alloy liner or machined down tube?

An image form the R1 forums to illustrate:

 

[Combi245]

Yes I did think about a modular system but the amount of excess weight of doing it this way was a major drawback. Certainly the use of a modular fender mount is still on the cards but only if there is interest from other parties for them. For the first couple I am going to keep it as simple as I can.

The fork tubes will be all composite construction with only a lightweight alloy holder for the bottom bush, seal and retainer and a small portion of Kashima coated aluminium insert for the top bush and retaining nut for the the top portion of the tube the rest is all composite. I have been playing around with various materials and testing it for the last couple of years and have come up with a way of laying them up where they are light and will handle the forces applied to them without failure on the road. This is an important difference to those for racing applications as the forces that are applied can be a ot more for the road and they have to be durable, withstanding years of abuse without failure.

 

[RockAZ]

Don't like the idea of fiber forks on the road, too many stone chips that can quickly lead to a breakdown when it gets wet. Look pretty tho,....

 

[Broombah]

Yes I did think about a modular system but the amount of excess weight of doing it this way was a major drawback. Certainly the use of a modular fender mount is still on the cards but only if there is interest from other parties for them. For the first couple I am going to keep it as simple as I can.

The fork tubes will be all composite construction with only a lightweight alloy holder for the bottom bush, seal and retainer and a small portion of Kashima coated aluminium insert for the top bush and retaining nut for the the top portion of the tube the rest is all composite. I have been playing around with various materials and testing it for the last couple of years and have come up with a way of laying them up where they are light and will handle the forces applied to them without failure on the road. This is an important difference to those for racing applications as the forces that are applied can be a ot more for the road and they have to be durable, withstanding years of abuse without failure.

make sure that you etch the aluminium and put a barrier layer of glass between it and the carbon, you don't want failure due to galvanic corrosion as with those sort of loads it'll look for every reason to break adhesion.
Failing that, but at greater cost, go for a stainless alloy holder. What sort of thickness are you going for?
In terms of durability your process with RI is pretty robust, or failing that look at ding a semi RTM process. You're going mandrel I take it?
Have you thought about mandrel and heatshrink wrapping? It's how termignoni made their exhaust tubes, that's why it's got that ribbed texture (missus).

Will you be post curing the final part at all?

 

[Combi245]

Yes I have thought of all that - I have experience bonding composites to aluminium as per Boeing aircraft that I have worked on in the past. And Yes I have a barrier coating to stop any carbon to aluminium contact. All the items will be hard anodised and left un coated apart from the internal surface of the top portion and I have designed the inserts in a way that they have a secondary mechanical lock to the composite rather than just relying on the adhesion of the composite material - again aircraft requirements for composite built flight critical components.

I use a wrapping process for the composite but it is not the same as that which you are referring to. - these are been done by a very different process that I can't go too much into at this stage. I am familiar with the process of heat shrink cellophane over prepreg composites, I used to make fishing rods and would often go to one of my suppliers and see them them make the blanks up for me.

Yes they will all be made on a special mandrel of sorts and post cured though the resin that I am using will naturally reach its target cure within 7 days - it will be done in stages as the max I have found that I can do it my way is 4-5 layers of the material, any more than that and I get problems with the composite material distorting to much under compression.

 

[Broombah]

Do you have access to a crest chamber in Aus or NZ?

 

[Combi245]

Don't like the idea of fiber forks on the road, too many stone chips that can quickly lead to a breakdown when it gets wet. Look pretty tho,....

That is an easy fix - sacrificial outer layer/cover that can be easily replaced. You have the same problem now with the aluminium tubes, they get a stone chip in the anodising and they corrode like nothing on earth..

 

[Combi245]

Do you have access to a crest chamber in Aus or NZ?

What is a crest chamber????

 

[Broombah]

What is a crest chamber????

It’s an environmental testing chamber used by the automotive industry. You can simulate accelerated wear/ salt spray / thermal cycling / environmental conditions in them.

you stick a car in there and put it through around ten years of abuse in a week. Once you’ve made your part it might be worth trying to blag a space in one to see how it comes out after a session in there.
Crest is an automotive standard test for
Road vehicle environmental simulations.